Bipolar Celebrities: Does It Make Them More Creative?

Depression may have been dubbed the “common cold of mental health,” but the mental health buzzword these days is bipolar disorder, possibly because it's often associated with creativity, verve, and charisma.

Linda Hamilton

In a 2004 interview, the 54-year-old actress of Terminator fame revealed that she had been living with bipolar disorder for more than 20 years. She was finally diagnosed after 10 years of “amazingly brilliant” manic highs, and lows that felt “like falling into a manhole and not being able to climb out no matter what.”

Hamilton decided to tell the public about her struggle 10 years after her diagnosis, when she had the disorder under control. “My quality of life is more amazing than I ever could’ve imagined in those 20 years of struggling with illness,” she said.